The greatest superpower in business is available to everyone…and it’s free

Let me tell you a story.

It’s a story about a person who desperately wants to get away from their 8-5 job. They have a lot of knowledge trapped in their head, but they don’t know how to get it out into words

They have a general idea of how to shape their subject matter, but it feels too broad, too generic. Because of this, they’ve spent years….decades…with this knowledge trapped in their heads

In addition to that, they’re also getting older and meanwhile, absolutely no one is benefitting from all of the things they’ve learned over time.

…hard fought, hard-won learnings

So what do they do? How do they get started?

They’re clearly trapped in a mental mindset that they “can’t figure out how to share their knowledge”.

(By the way, if you haven’t figured it out yet, this “person” may or may not be me. Who’s to say?)

So here’s the mindset shift that needs to happen - don’t share your knowledge, share someone else’s

What does that mean?

By finding other content creators whose work is similar to the type of content you want to provide, you can “imitate” them and get writing.

To be clear (and this isn’t the only time I’ll mention this) what you want to do is imitate, NOT copy. There is a difference, which I’ll discuss in a bit more detail below.

When you first start doing this, it’s going to feel like your voice is small, and you’re going to feel as if you sound just like the person you’re imitating.

Trust me, as long as you are imitating, and NOT copying, what you write is going to sound more like you than you’ll realize.

Then, as time goes by, your own voice will become stronger and stronger. Eventually and naturally, you’ll begin to write fully in your own voice, in your own style, around the topics you and your audience care most about.

But how do you do that?

Below you’ll find my 5-Step plan for breaking through the log jam and getting your gift of knowledge out to the world through your greatest superpower of all, and one that’s available to all of us.

The Power of Imitation

We learn to imitate from birth. Otherwise how would babies ever learn to do anything? 

We’re taught by people who already know how to do something. So how do we develop the ability to do the same thing?

Let’s take learning how to ride a bike, for example. How do we do that? We do so by observing, listening, and then ultimately, trying by imitating.

As noted above, it’s super important to note that imitation is NOT duplication. It is NOT copying.

Think about impersonators for a moment, especially voice impersonators. What they can do is simply uncanny. It’s amazing how close they can get to the person they’re imitating. 

But it isn’t an exact copy. Some of themselves ALWAYS shine through.

So let’s get into it. How can you change your mindset from being afraid to share your knowledge with the world, to consistently creating new content on a regular basis, in your own voice, and from your own expertise?

Step 1 - Figure out what you want to teach others

Everyone has something worthwhile to share. Even if you’re early on in your journey, you’re still at least one step ahead of someone who is just beginning.

Never assume that you don’t know enough about something to be able to teach it to others.

If you don’t have a single area of knowledge where you are beyond the beginner level (this is going to be astonishingly few people, btw) then pick something you’re interested in, and go read 5 books on the subject.

I promise you, after reading those 5 books, you’re going to know quite a bit more than you did when you dove into that very first book.

And guess what? You also now know enough to help another person who is just getting ready to start that very first book.

You now have a base level of knowledge around that subject. You know enough to teach someone who is one step behind you, the person who is interested in getting started, but is hesitant because everywhere they look, all they see are “experts”.

And that can be hugely intimidating.

Instead, you are now perfectly positioned to help them. You aren’t yet a subject matter expert, but you now know a good bit more than someone just starting out. 

At the same time, you aren’t so far ahead of the complete beginner that it’s intimidating for a newbie. It’s easy for you to remember when you were where they currently are. 

In fact, it may have only been a few weeks or months ago that you were in the same place.

Do you see the mindset shift here? You’ve gone from “I don’t know enough about anything to teach anyone else” to very clearly having enough knowledge to teach a real beginner.

Best of all? If you’re diligent, you can get to this place in as little as a few weeks. Which leads to...

Step 2 - Research others in your subject area

Whether your interest is new or life long, it’s very likely that there are content creators in your area of interest who have already been producing material online for quite some time. 

Using myself as an example, I’m currently pulling from four different content creators as I infuse their ideas into my voice. Each of them approaches the subject matter from slightly different directions, and they each have a very distinct style. 

If you’ve been interested in your subject matter for any length of time, odds are that you already have several similar creators in the space bookmarked. 

But if you don’t, now is the time to start doing your research. 

• Go to a search engine and type in something that you would like to read, or learn more about.

• Go to YouTube and do the same thing.

• Go to Medium and do the same thing.

• Go to Twitter/X and do the same thing.

Find out where your favorite content creators hang out, and go hang out there.

When they produce new content, take notes. See what grabs your attention and what doesn’t. See what major categories their content covers, and make note of that.

In no time at all, you’re probably going to have a list of creators whose content really resonates with you, either because of their style, their content, or a combination of both.

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready for…

Step 3 - Build a swipe file of their best article titles

Here’s where you really begin to take action towards finding your own voice. You’re going to go to each content creator's main hub (this will often be their own website, but it might be their YouTube page, or their Medium page. 

Wherever it is, go there and look for all of their articles, blog posts, or videos. 

Once there, you’re going to see that every single piece of content has a title. Copy the titles that really resonate with you into a document (I use Apple Notes on Mac. Notepad on Windows will also do the job.)

IMPORTANT - if you can, make sure these titles are also linked to the content itself. Step 4 has two options, and one of them won’t work unless you have access to the content connected to the title itself.

Separate these titles into different categories. If you’re lucky, the content creators you’ve chosen will have already done this. If they haven’t, you’ll need to figure it out on your own. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to make sense to you.

Ideally, you’ll do this with enough of your creators until you have at least a few hundred titles to work with.

These titles are going to be the initial spark that you turn their material into content that is uniquely yours.

Step 4 - Pick one title / article and create content from it

Next you have two options, and which option you choose is going to depend on your comfort level with your ability to generate unique content at this stage.

In other words, there is a beginner option and a more advanced option here. It’s up to you how deep you wish to go.

Option 1 - Choose a content title, outline / highlight it, and create content from that.

This is the beginner option. You choose a piece of content and you go through that content, outlining or highlighting the major points and biggest ideas of the piece of content.

Once this is complete, you take your outline of the major points, and begin to expand upon them in your own words. 

Since you’ve already noted the major points, there isn’t a great need to determine the layout of the article. You’re simply taking the major points in the order they were presented, and filling them in using your own words.

I highly recommend this path for someone who is new to their area of interest and is only a step or two ahead of a total beginner. In this way, you remove much of the pressure to develop the major talking points on your own, as your knowledge level might not allow you to comfortably do that yet.

On the other hand, if you are deeply knowledgeable in your subject matter, you can either start with the next option, or move there after just a bit of practice.

Option 2 - Write your own article based on the title alone.

This is the option you will either want to start with, or move on to once you’re comfortable writing from your own point of view, and with your own ideas based on a single topic or headline.

This is just like it sounds. You’ll take an article title from your swipe file, and write your own article on the topic. The imitation here is limited to the title (which you can also change, you’re simply using it as inspiration or idea generation).

Step 5 - Write the content in your own words

Based on the choice you’ve made above, you will now create a piece of content.

If you’ve chosen Option 1, you’ll have a piece of content that includes a title, and several major points outlined.

From here, you close out the original piece of content (remember, imitation is NOT copying!) and you can now get to work filling in the spaces under all of the main points using your own words, your own voice, and your own style. 

You can also choose to change the wording of the title (recommended) and the details under all of the major topics will be your own.

If you’ve chosen Option 2, the path is similar, but a bit more open-ended. I recommend carefully listening or reading through the original content closely and carefully, then closing it and getting to work.

You’ll only have the title to work with here, but if you are knowledgeable enough in your subject area, this will get you past what is often the greatest stumbling block in content creation - the spark of an idea, a topic, to write about.

For many of us, once we have that spark, the writing comes easily. Once you’re finished, pick another title and start again. You’ll be amazed how much content you produce when you aren’t overthinking how to come up with ideas.

Why this works

By working in this way, you remove the pressure of trying to dream up topics out of thin air and write about them. For new writers, this is often the single biggest stumbling block, and it can turn into a mental block that becomes impossible to move beyond.

By reading the works of others in your area of knowledge, you begin to synthesize information. Their ideas and your ideas will begin to blend.

This makes it dramatically easier to get started, and get your knowledge out of your head, and into written words.

While their information will always be available to you, you won’t need it for long. Instead you’ll find yourself increasingly writing from not only your own voice, but from your own, original ideas as well.

So if you’re stuck, if you desperately want to share what you know with the world, but can’t seem to take the next step, I highly recommend giving this 5-step process a try.

Remember, imitation is your greatest superpower in business. And it’s yours, for free.

Just remember, imitate, leverage the work of others to inspire your own, give credit where credit is due, and NEVER, ever copy.